Jay Leno: I would perform stand-up after Richard Pryor so I’d bomb (Audio)

In an interview on this week’s The Paul Mecurio Show, Jay Leno talked candidly to comedian Paul Mecurio about his days as a struggling comic, sleeping outside or crashing on friends’ couches, and how he slowly made it big. One of his many words of wisdom for young comics was to go on after comic legends and just watch your set bomb.

“Keep trying to find the place where they’re not laughing and play that,” Leno says. “You know when I first came to town, I followed Richard Pryor every night…I would say put me on after Richie and nobody would want to go after Richie because he would blow the room up. So I would get up there and everything that was really funny before was kind of funny now and everything that was kind of funny really sucked now. So I got rid of all the stuff that really sucked. It made me tighten up my act.”

If you’re looking for news of late night politics, this isn’t the podcast to listen to. However, if cars, how Mecurio and Leno got their starts, and successful jokes about chairs interest you, then plug in your headphones and enjoy.

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About the Author

Sonia Weiser (@weischoice) has neither fame or fortune, but aspires to be a full time writer of humorous material (which will undoubtedly not lead to those two things). Right now, she's probably tweeting as someone else or waiting for new podcasts to download. Possibly drinking coffee and wondering whether or not she should do laundry this weekend.